I've lost count of the number of websites that try to 'out' every Muslim in public life as an extremist or Islamist of some shape or form.
— Mehdi Hasan
Have you ever been called an Islamist? How about a jihadist or a terrorist? Extremist, maybe? Welcome to my world. It's pretty depressing.
Islam, for example, like so many other faiths, stresses the importance of mutual solidarity with our fellow man.
The state exists to serve and protect every citizen, regardless of colour, creed, race or religion - and the welfare state should exist to and protect the populace in the same non-discriminatory and universal manner.
The public is to the left not simply of New Labour, but the political and media classes as a whole.
The moment has come, as we enter the teenies, to forget the idea of a Palestinian state existing side by side with a Jewish state, and to argue and agitate instead for the only remaining, viable and democratic option: a single, secular and binational state for Israelis and Palestinians.
Social media has emboldened an army of online Islamophobes; in the real world, mosques have been firebombed and politicians line up to condemn Muslim terrorism/clothing/meat/seating arrangements.
I have a long history of defending, and promoting, free speech and open debate - especially (especially!) within Muslim communities.
Stop treating Muslims as if they're some kind of foreign, alien entity rather than part of the fabric of Canadian society or American society or British society.
When you demonize Muslims as a community, as an entire group of people based on the crimes or actions of a tiny minority within that community, you have very worrying, real world effects.
I will call out someone if he's Islamophobic, and I will also call out anti-Semitism. It's immoral to call out one and not the other.
From a moral point of view, it is wrong... to smear or stereotype minority communities, to pretend or give credence to the idea that the actions of a minority within a community are somehow representative or the fault of the majority of members of that community. That is the very definition of bigotry.
Scepticism may be evidence of a healthy and independent mindset; but conspiracism is a virus that feeds off insecurity and bitterness.
In theory, the filibuster helps whichever party is in the minority in the Senate. In practice, it is the Republicans who have disproportionately used it to engage in cynical and anti-democratic obstructionism whenever they find themselves in the minority.
Billionaires and corporations buy and sell politicians, while citizens struggle to exercise their right to vote or hold their elected representatives to account.
Bigotry and demonisation of difference are usually the hallmark of immature and childish minds.
Homophobia is not the monopoly of any one country, culture, or religion.
I'm a fan of robust debate, and I'm not averse to engaging in the odd ad hominem attack myself.
Shortly after he became the first Muslim to attend cabinet, I urged Sadiq Khan to be prepared. The Islamophobes, the new McCarthyites, would at some stage come after him. He laughed it off. Yet it was only a matter of time.
I am a believing and practising Muslim - but I am also a social democrat.
Proportional representation is as British as first-past-the-post.
There are two Tory parties: the trendy, socially liberal Notting Hill set which dominates at the national level, and the unreconstructed, reactionary, and often bigoted members of Conservative associations at the local level. The latter have yet to reconcile themselves to the reality of modern, multiracial Britain.
The truth is that the dream of 'two states for two peoples,' born in the '90s, died in the noughties. The two-state solution, the popular and principled option for so long now, is neither practical nor possible.
Deficit, deficit, deficit. The political and media elites are obsessed with the D-word.
None of us believes in an untrammelled right to free speech. We all agree there are always going to be lines that, for the purposes of law and order, cannot be crossed; or for the purposes of taste and decency, should not be crossed. We differ only on where those lines should be drawn.
What we want is responsible journalism. We want to avoid bigotry.
I'm the first person to say don't equate between terrorism and Islam. But at the same time, I'm not going to pretend that there isn't a threat from some British Muslim homegrown extremists.
Anti-Semitism isn't just tolerated in some sections of the British Muslim community; it's routine and commonplace.
I love my job... but I find myself awkwardly straddling the divide between British Islam and the British media. I get pretty exhausted of having to constantly endure a barrage of lazy stereotypes, inflammatory headlines, disparaging generalisations, and often inaccurate and baseless stories.
To claim that ISIS is Islamic is egregiously inaccurate and empirically unsustainable, not to mention insulting to the 1.6 billion non-violent adherents of Islam across the planet.
Why shouldn't 16-year-olds who pay taxes and drive not be allowed to vote?
As a supporter of secularism, I am willing to accept same-sex weddings in a state-sanctioned register office, on grounds of equity. As a believer in Islam, however, I insist that no mosque be forced to hold one against its wishes.
If you're gay, that doesn't mean I want to discriminate against you, belittle or bully you, abuse or offend you. Not at all. I don't want to go back to the dark days of criminalisation and the imprisonment of gay men and women; of Section 28 and legalised discrimination.
There are no authentic reports in any of the Muslim books of history of the Prophet Muhammad punishing anyone for same-sex acts.
Every morning, I take a deep breath and then go online to discover what new insult or smear has been thrown in my direction. Whether it's tweets, blogposts or comment threads, the abuse is as relentless as it is vicious.
Reagan was no neocon.
My fundamental concern about the role of faith groups in providing social provision is democratic: how do we hold them to account? To whom are they responsible? How do we, the public, the recipients of welfare, punish them if they make mistakes or become corrupt?
One of the hardiest myths in British public life is that there is a conspiracy of silence on immigration. Liberals and leftists, it is alleged, have bandied together to prevent debate or discussion of 'mass immigration' into the U.K., caused by Labour's 'open door' policies.
Most Asians I know still don't trust the Tories on race - and they have good reason not to.
There is no longer a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Let's start with the euro. What on earth were we thinking? How could anyone with the faintest grasp of economics have believed it was anything other than sheer insanity to yoke together diverse national economies such as Greece, Ireland, Germany and Finland under a single exchange rate and a single interest rate?
Lampooning racism by reproducing brazenly racist imagery is a pretty dubious satirical tactic.
There's a general ignorance about how Muslims live and what Muslims believe.
I think that the anti-Semitic problem in the British Muslim community is worse than among the community at large.
Even as evidence mounts that immigration is bolstering the British economy, the political consensus seems to be that bashing immigration boosts electoral fortunes.
I have always regretted the dumb and offensive comments I made in my 20s on atheism and homosexuality.
The rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria has been a disaster for the public image of Islam - and a boon for the Islamophobia industry.
Some have argued that the United States was designed to block majority rule; to be a 'republic, not a democracy.' This is ahistorical nonsense.
Orthodox Islam, like orthodox interpretations of the other Abrahamic faiths, views homosexuality as sinful and usually defines marriage as only ever a heterosexual union. This isn't to say that there is no debate on the subject.
We have to find a way to try and reconcile our beliefs - and Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, has traditionally seen homosexuality as a sin - with the reality of life in modern, pluralistic, secular societies in which gay people cannot be wished away or banished from sight.
